Fishermen Life Enhancement Center (FLEC) showcases its progress in combatting human rights abuses, citing its strong labour network as a crucial factor to more effective and faster response actions.

FLEC’s committee Ms. Nattaya Petcharat said the project provides proactive solutions to improve quality of life for workers in Thai fishery industry and their families in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs.).

The center emphasizes on building a network with migrant workers through activities and training course to raise their awareness on Human Rights Issue and Thai labour law.

“Migrant workers are playing leading role in our project. We encourage them to be eyes and ears for the center, helping us to monitors unfair treatment on their friends,” she said.

Besides human rights’ work, the center has set up activities to supports the fishermen families, allowing them to access basic education, public health and other welfares.

“We are focusing on human development in line with the UN’s SDGs. By enhancing their skills, the fishermen and their families, regardless of nationality, will become a major force for the development of Thailand and their home countries,” she said.

In this 4th year of the project, FLEC is pushing forward with community engagement activities to build trust and encourage more of migrant workers to take part in intercepting human trafficking, child labors and other forms of human rights violation.

FLEC also places importance on reducing inequality through vocational training courses and educational opportunity for migrant workers’ children as well as urging the fishermen to adopt correct fishery practices, which will significantly reduce impact to the environment. 

Mr.Wuthichai Sithipreedanant, Senior Vice President – Social Responsibility and Sustainability Development at CP Foods, said the company has supported the project in an effort to combat human rights issue, building transparent supply chain for the whole Thai food industry.

 “FLEC is a role model for human rights development. The best practices from FLEC can be apply with other organizations, allowing Thailand to cope with human rights issue effectively and sustainably.” Mr.Wuthichai praised.

The center is a joint human rights project between five organizations, including the Fish Marketing Organization; Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives; Department of Labour Protection and Welfare; Family Planning Association of Thailand; Stella Maris Centre Songkhla and Charoen Pokphand Foods (CP Foods), to tackle a complex human rights issue in Thailand.